Stealing Moonlight (Lily ABO) - Chapter 21

The train to Beijing was scheduled to depart at 2:40 PM. With about an hour to spare, Ruan Jing and Li Ling’er found a pillar not far from the boarding gate, set down their luggage, and prepared to grab a quick bite.

Ruan Jing pulled out a dented lunchbox from her satchel. The moment she opened it, Li Ling’er, who was gnawing on a rock-hard cornmeal pancake without even a pickle, immediately raised an eyebrow.

The lunchbox was packed with dumplings, neatly arranged in rows, at least thirty of them.

Liang Fengying had woken up before dawn today to knead the dough and wrap these fresh dumplings for Ruan Jing. She worried they’d stick together, so she specifically let them cool down one by one before putting them in the lunchbox.

“Dumplings for boarding, noodles for disembarking.”

Li Ling’er recited a local saying. She struggled to swallow the clearly scratchy pancake, hitting her chest twice with force. “…Your mother is really good to you.”

“My mom said these are for both of us to eat.” Ruan Jing handed the lunchbox to Li Ling’er. Li Ling’er took it with a hint of panic, almost dropping the pancake. A flicker of genuine confusion finally appeared on her face.

Ruan Jing somehow felt she had won a point. She stood up from her luggage bag with a hint of triumph. “You start eating. I’ll go get some hot water up front; I’ll be right back.”

Ruan Jing squeezed into the crowd, waiting to get hot water, and occasionally glanced back at Li Ling’er, afraid an Alpha might bother her again.

But Li Ling’er seemed utterly unconcerned. She held the lunchbox of dumplings with both hands as if it were a ticking time bomb, her entire body, from her back to her arms, taut.

Ruan Jing found it amusing, yet strange.

In Ruan Family Village, even children who had just learned to speak knew that with two catties of white flour, one could climb into Li Ling’er’s bed.

Logically, her family should have flour by the jar, not lacking for a meal or two of dumplings. Moreover, back at the clinic, Ruan Jing had noticed that Li Ling’er’s parents’ clothes weren’t cheap either. Her father wore an old four-pocket cadre suit, with frayed cuffs and pockets, and a pair of oversized leather shoes that made his feet look like boats, forcing him to shuffle when he walked.

Ruan Jing finished getting hot water and struggled out of the crowd. She blew on her right hand, which had been scalded red by splashed hot water. From a distance, she saw Li Ling’er, as if having made up her mind, quickly grab a dumpling and shove it into her mouth, then immediately lift her head, pretending nothing had happened.

“I didn’t eat any,” Li Ling’er immediately explained when she saw Ruan Jing return, in a way that obviously gave herself away.

“Eat them, they’re for you.” Ruan Jing put down the thermos bottle filled with boiling water and couldn’t help but rub her tingling fingertips again.

Seeing this, Li Ling’er immediately handed the lunchbox back to Ruan Jing, grabbed Ruan Jing’s right hand, and pulled it to her ear. Her cool, soft, small earlobe ambiguously brushed against Ruan Jing’s fingertips. Before Li Ling’er could speak, Ruan Jing’s fingertips were already kneading her earlobe. It was softer than she had imagined.

…Compared to her lips, they seemed even softer.

Ruan Jing couldn’t help but start fantasizing. Her fingertips were no longer hot, yet she didn’t stop kneading Li Ling’er’s earlobe. Not only that, her fingers mischievously scratched behind her ear and repeatedly caressed her side neck.

Fortunately, Li Ling’er didn’t refuse this time. Like a cat enjoying a good petting, she tilted her head and rubbed against Ruan Jing’s palm, her eyes growing moist and soft, her plump lips slightly parted, her crimson tongue resting softly between her teeth, hissing as she inhaled.

“What are you looking at! Don’t look at such filthy things!”

A woman’s scolding voice behind them interrupted their rare moment of tenderness. Ruan Jing turned to see a female Omega scolding her Alpha.

“I wasn’t looking, what’s there to see? You’re much prettier!”

The male Alpha explained ingratiatingly, but his eyes still kept darting towards Li Ling’er until Ruan Jing intercepted his gaze, making him slightly more subdued.

Ruan Jing withdrew her hand. Li Ling’er, who had been comfortably touched, even seemed a little annoyed, her head chasing Ruan Jing’s hand forward. However, the cabbage and vermicelli dumpling Ruan Jing put into her mouth quickly distracted her.

Author’s Note:

The overall pace of “Stealing Moonlight” will be a bit slower, with a heavier focus on plot and relatively less on explicit scenes.